But after defeat by Italy, he was determined not to join the doom and gloom merchants who forecast more woe ahead for the Three Lions.

“Football is a game of opinions, and there are some we like the sound of and some we don’t,” he said. “I just want to try to put a final positive spin on it.

There are going to be a lot of things happening in the next two years, not least on the player front

England boss Roy Hodgson

“We were concerned going into the tournament that we didn’t have the fans dreaming about success. We have consistently broken TV viewing (records) – 18m, then 19m and now 23m (against Italy).

“It’s nice to know they were that interested, and it’s nice to know they are interested to see what we can do to qualify and what we can do when we get to Brazil.

“Maybe as footballers, as professionals, that’s all we can do – give of our best and try to improve.

“Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that we can make those dreams come true. All we can do is try.”

The next two years will define whether Hodgson’s appointment has been a success.

He confessed: “There are going to be a lot of things happening in the next two years, not least on the player front.

“When you talk about possession and keeping the ball, you are talking about the individual ability of a player, and let’s hope that some of the players who will be knocking on my door to get into the team will have those individual technical abilities. “Premier League clubs work on those things. We are working hard to improve from academies upwards.

“You see some of the young talents, like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and even Danny Welbeck. They are not poor players technically, and hopefully in two years’ time they will be even better players because they will have more experience.

“We will be working to keep what’s good about our game and to improve the things that did not go right for us this time.

“It wasn’t our night against Italy, but we have to retain that fighting spirit and doggedness which is a quality of English football.

“We mustn’t start throwing those qualities overboard just so you can come off the fi eld and have someone say you’ve had more shots at goal.”

Come August 15, when England face Italy again in a friendly, Hodgson would like to freshen up his squad with talent like Arsenal’s hopefully fit Jack Wilshere, Tottenham’s Kyle Walker and Manchester United defender Chris Smalling.

“Jack Wilshere had an impact when he played for England in this qualifying campaign,” said Hodgson. “We hope he’s going to be fi t again, then he’s got to be a player who is of interest to us.

“Adam Johnson (of Manchester City) has spent a little bit of time with us. He’s another player who is quite young, quite interesting. Ryan Bertrand at Chelsea did very well in the Champions League final. There are players out there.

“It’s my job now to study and research that, but I won’t dismiss the people who have worked with me here and served me well so far.”

Spain and Italy are blazing a trail. Can England catch them? “I don’t want to emulate nations. I want England to be England,” Hodgson insisted.

“I want to continue to improve our play, not only in terms of our organisation and teamwork, but also making certain we are aware that in international football you have to be a lot more careful before you put that ball at risk, before you take on the tempting cross or long pass.

“You have to weigh up carefully what will happen if we lose the ball, and whether it would be better to play a shorter pass to keep possession.

“That is something (our) players maybe don’t do every week, but it’s something I will have to preach and work on for the short periods when we get together.

“But the words ‘vision’ and ‘philosophy’ are ones that frighten me because I had to go to the dictionary once to find out what ‘philosophy’ meant... and I’ve forgotten again!”